Harrowing

When I started this blog, nearly two years and three hundred posts ago, I would write a draft, and then enter the draft into my blog. I did most of the conceptualizing, fiddling and editing beforehand. I guess it is a sign of this new era that, not only am I writing most of these essays on the blog site itself, but in addition to that, there are some mornings when I literally do not know what I will write about until I start to type. This is one of those mornings.

The only thing I had planned to say was that the last few days have been "harrowing," both personally and on the world scene. But I wanted to double-check the word's definition, which is, as I thought, "acutely distressing." That led to the niggling thought that there is a farming meaning to the word, which, of course there is: a harrow is a tool usually used after plowing to further break up or refine the soil before planting. And then there's a theological reference, the old Christian belief that Jesus descended to the underworld after his death and before the resurrection (the "Harrowing of Hell").

Hmm...

These are all linked, aren't they? I mean, we are all being thrust, with each new event, "downward," face to face with humanity's most tragic and destructive sides, and with our own personal tragedies and traumas. We are being broken up -- and certainly refined, if we can somehow hold onto the thread of love and stay intact. What a challenge, to genuinely feel the truly harrowing nature of this time, to feel the pain of having our rigid "clumps" torn to bits, and not to let go of love (which many around us will do). There is the potential here for extraordinary new human beauty. Yes there is. It's a harrowing time all right.